Spider-Who?
by brooklynvtc
Summary: Set after Spider-Man:Homecoming; While out on patrol, Peter gets into an accident that leaves him helpless in an alleyway. What happens when a certain red-head finds him, and quickly realizes that The Amazing Spider-Man doesn't even remember who he is? *Amnesia* *Slow-burn romance*
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

 _Thwip_

"I've got to catch these guys, Karen!" Peter Parker panted as he soared through the air on his thin line of webbing.

He was currently chasing a group of thugs who had still possessed some of the Chitauri tech that Toomes had distributed. It's been three months since his final battle with the Vulture, but the tech he had sold for _years_ was still out there... in the hands of many, _many_ bad guys.

Those very bad guys were now speeding down the busy streets of Manhattan in a white van, pointing their weapons at him, trying to shoot the Amazing Spider-Man out of the sky.

Peter had to admit, there were a few close calls, but he had managed to twist out of the way before the cosmic energy had a chance to touch him.

Ever since his newfound 'spider-sense' had developed as a new power two months ago, no one could deny that he had gotten significantly better at his superhero job.

No one could touch him. He was _too_ agile, _too_ quick. With his spider-sense, he finally felt that he was the hero he always felt he could be. Even Tony had to admit it, though he only did so once... begrudgingly.

 _"You have really grown into your own, kid."_ Tony had said, in his flippant way of speaking, which gave off the vibe that he actually didn't care enough for Peter to see it as a real compliment.

Still, Peter had beamed at the praise, and had jokingly said that he might just be too good for the Avengers, which was another reason he had to turn down Tony's offer.

Which had gotten him a light slap on the back of his head as Tony had rolled his eyes.

"I have calculated that the fastest way to catch your objectives is to launch yourself off of the flagpole two hundred feet ahead of you, Peter." His A.I., Karen, informed him in that robotically warm voice of hers. On the screen in front of him, the very flagpole she had been speaking of had been highlighted to show what she had been referring to.

Peter immediately went for it. Landing on the flagpole and in the next instant, launched himself off from it.

He shot high through the air, until he was right on top of the white van in the air. Peter shot out a web, that immediately latched itself onto the roof of the van, and brought himself down on top of it, landing nimbly on his feet.

"Where'd the Spider-Freak go?!" He heard one of the goons exclaim from within the van, as they had lost sight of him trailing their van.

Peter grinned as he flipped from the edge of the roof, right through the open doors of the back of the van.

"Spider- _Freak_?" He asked as they all jumped and yelled out in surprise by his sudden appearance. He jumped out of the way as one thug immediately shot comic energy at the spot he had been standing, and he landed sideways on the wall. "Don't you mean, ridiculously _handsome_ Spider-Freak?"

He flipped off of the wall and kicked one of the men right in the face, using his ugly mug as a backboard to launch off of for another flip.

Peter landed low in a crouch and used his web to pull one of the weapons from another thug's surprised hands. "I mean, because you have to admit that this suit, _this **suit**_ , is the best thing your eyes will ever lay eyes on!"

Peter webbed them all to all manner of surfaces of the van... including the driver, who Peter had pulled out of his seat at the front, before shooting a web to keep the car break down.

The car stopped immediately.

Peter clapped his hands together, to get rid of imaginary dust, with a large grin. "Be sure to rave about how the _handsome_ Spider-Freak sent you all to prison while in your jail cells! That's sure to make you mighty popular with the other in-mates!"

A panic immediately overcame all of them at his words. "No wait! You can't send us to jail! He'll _kill_ us!"

Peter, who had been about to swing off on the web he attached to the nearest building, paused.

"What do you mean?" Peter asked, dubiously. " _Who_ will kill you?"

The man who had spoken didn't say a thing, however. Just merely looked at Peter with frightened, imploring eyes.

Another man piped up from where he was webbed at the other side of the van. "Please! You call yourself a hero! You've got to save us!"

Peter looked at them, his white, eye templates widening in shock. "You've got to be messing me with or something." He said skeptically. "You're just trying to trick me into letting you all free."

The second man who had spoken immediately shook his head. "No. I _swear_ to you, Spider-Man. You've got to help us!"

Peter hesitated for a second, before he let go of the web he had shot and walked up to the man.

"What's your name?" Peter asked him.

"Flint Marko." The man replied, confused. "The others are Aleksei Sytsevich and Moorie Bench."

Immediately, Karen started a database search on their names. And soon the results presented themselves to him.

"Well," Peter began as his eyes swept and skimmed over the results. "According to all of your permanent records, you don't seem to be very trustworthy men..."

It was true. How had they managed to pull off all of the crimes on this list and still manage to not be put away for life?

" _Please_!" Flint exclaimed, sounding even more desperate. "You don't understand, The Big Man, he'll..."

He trailed off... his eyes widening, as though realizing that he had said too much.

"The _Big Man_?" Peter asked, both dubious and curious at the same time. "Who's 'The Big Man'?"

"No one." Moorie spat out. "Now, keep your mouth shut, Marko!"

"What's the use?!" Flint argued back. "This Spider-Guy is the only chance of us not going to jail and getting killed!"

Then, Flint turned to Peter, with a newfound determination in his eyes. "I'll talk if you let us go. There's a new Big Man of Crime in the city... Only, he isn't like any crime boss I've ever seen before. He wears a mask, he's super strong like you, and he kills anyone who steps a toe out of line. He'll kill us all for messing up the job and going to jail."

Peter stared at the man in shock. He couldn't help but to believe him. He was too sincere...

But he couldn't just let them all go free! His Aunt May walked these streets, sometimes. What if she got caught in the crossfire the next time these guys decided to loot?

 _Remember what happened the last time you let a criminal go free?_ His thoughts reminded him against his will.

Of course he couldn't forget. He never could. The last time he let a thief go free, without stopping them, was when his Uncle Ben had been shot and killed by the very same criminal...

Since then, he lived by his uncle's words... With great power, must also come great responsibility.

No... he couldn't let any of these thugs go free. Not when it could cost an innocent person their life.

Peter sighed, running a hand over his masked head, uncertain.

"Please! I'll even tell you where all the crime bosses plan on meetin' tonight!"

This piqued Peter's interest. "Where?" He asked immediately.

Flint struggled against the webbing the held him, before saying, "The address is in my front pocket."

Peter stepped forward and fished out the address, which was written on a flimsy scrap of paper.

"Will you help us?" Flint asked, never once straying his sight from his mask's white eye pieces.

Peter paused, and looked to the man in front of him. "Yeah... I'll help. But not in the way you'll like..."

Then he turned his back on him, voicing his attention to Karen. "Karen? Can you send a message to Tony to pick up these men for the special holding facility? And let him know about the situation? They will be safe there."

"What?!" Flint and the others exclaimed behind him. "No! You can't do that! The Big Man will still find us there and-"

"At a special holding facility within the Avengers Headquarters?" Peter asked dubiously, not even bothering to hide his amusement. "I think not... But thanks for the address and the information. I promise that you all will be perfectly safe where you're going."

With that, Peter let loose another web and shot off into the air, hearing his alter-ego's name getting cursed behind him.

"Karen?" Peter asked as he swung high in the air. "Can you find directions for the address he gave me?"

"Certainly, Peter."

Peter landed on the corner of a roof and launched himself off of it, following the directions Karen set out for him.

When suddenly...

"Peter, you have an incoming call from May Parker."

"No, no, no, no, no!" Peter exclaimed. "Don't let her through, Karen, you cannot-"

" _Peter Benjamin Parker!_ " His Aunt May's voice pierced through the ear pieces in his mask. Almost startling him enough to let go of the web that kept him from falling to the pavement... "What was it I _said_ about curfew?!"

Peter groaned, exasperated. Ever since his aunt had found out about his secret, things had been a little on edge between them. Ever since the day she had walked in on him in his Spider-Man suit, she had been so overprotective over his safety.

Not that Peter didn't understand why... with what had happened to Uncle Ben, Peter was the only family May had left. It was obvious that she didn't want to lose him just so he could 'go out and play hero'.

Those had been her words... when she had outright forbad him from being Spider-Man.

It hadn't been until Tony had come over and persuaded her, did she finally relent... only with more than a few rules that Peter had to follow...

One of them being, do not stay out past curfew... even if it _was_ summer vacation.

"H-Hey, Aunt May..." Peter tried to say casually. "How's your night been?"

"Do _not_ change the subject, Peter." His Aunt said, tersely. "Where are you? Are you on your way home, now?"

Peter sighed. This whole curfew rule made it plenty difficult to be New York's personal, friendliest superhero. "I-I'm sorry, May, but I'm actually chasing a lead right now."

There was a beat of silence, before, " _Nooo_... What you are _actually_ doing is making your way home, mister."

Peter gritted his teeth in frustration. "But, Aunt May! If I follow this lead, then I just might be able to take down all the crime bosses, and-"

"Wait _-Crime bosses?_!"

"-and then, maybe crime will slow down and I'll be home more often! Don't you see? Win-Win!"

An indignant noise came from the other end of the line. "Did you call Tony about this? It seems... _too big_ for just you."

Peter frowned. It was another one of those 'rules' that Tony and his Aunt May had made up. Where if he ever found himself in over his head, or dealing with anything bigger than a petty thief, that he had to call Tony immediately for assistance.

Peter didn't much like this rule. He didn't need a babysitter. Especially since his spider-sense made him better than ever with his super-heroing.

"Y-Yeah." Peter lied. "He told me that he's on his way now."

There was a long beat, where Peter held his breath, before he finally heard May sigh in acceptance. "Fine. But I want you straight home right after, understand?"

Peter grinned at his victory and happily replied, "Absolutely! Love you, Aunt May! Gotta go!"

The line disconnected, before his Aunt May could get another word in.

It wasn't long before Peter got to the abandoned building where the address on the paper said. And Peter realized that his destination wasn't too far from his apartment that his Aunt May was sitting in right then... almost too close for Peter's comfort.

At this thought, a newfound determination settled within him as he crawled up to the roof of the building. He had to stop these power-hungry maniacs before any innocents got hurt...

But, unknown to Spider-Man, he was being watched from the building from across the alleyway.

"It worked boss. Those low-life's got caught by Spider-Man just as you said."

A long, cackling, maniacal laugh sounded from within the shadows. "But of course, my dear Hammerhead. It was only too easy to catch Spider-Man within this very trap. Now tell me Hammerhead, how do you catch a spider when out of its web?"

Hammerhead grinned slightly, turning back to peer through the window as he remarked, "You blow it up."

...

As soon as Peter stood on the roof of the abandoned building, his spider-sense started going off like _crazy_.

He supposed that it had something to do with all the crime bosses inside, but the tingling was more _urgent_ than that...

Almost as though...

Peter's eyes widened.

He had to get out of there, _now_!

Peter leapt from the very spot he had been standing, just a moment before the entire building exploded.

And though he had been fast enough to avoid the flames, he hadn't been fast enough to avoid the force of the blast that sent him hurtling through the air... until he landed, head first, on the corner of a medal garbage can.

His body landed on the pavement in the abandoned alleyway... limp and unresponsive to the surrounding world.

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A/N: Please leave a review if you want me to continue. This story has been in my thoughts lately, and I decided to write it out. Let me know if you like it so far or have any suggestions! :)

Up next is the "mysterious" red-head that finds him. Though I'm guessing that you all know who it really is... ;)


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

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Mary Jane Watson was walking the city streets alone towards her Aunt Anna's apartment in Queens.

Her Aunt Anna, who was away for the week, but had long ago given Mary Jane a key to her apartment… knowing what Mary Jane's home life was like.

Mary Jane cringed as she thought back to the screaming argument her parents had gotten in, before Mary Jane had decided that she had enough and marched out the door… Aunt Anna's key in her hand and a small backpack with a change of clothes and basic necessities.

She would be eternally grateful to her Aunt Anna. A secret part of her had always wished and dreamed that she actually lived with her kindly aunt. But she had always been afraid of what the repercussions of what merely asking would be.

Mary Jane had turned another corner, knowing that she was getting close to her Aunt Anna's apartment, when…

 _ **BOOM**_!

Mary Jane screamed as she instictively covered and ducked her head in terror as the sound of a close explosion resounded through the air.

Mary Jane straightened and turned towards the alleyway that she had just passed, looking at the building before her in horror as it burned… black smoke billowing up towards the sky.

If there had been anyone inside of that building… there was no way they could have survived.

Suddenly the clanging sound of something banging against medal caught in her hearing, and served to divert her attention away from the burning building.

She caught the sight of the body of a man falling from where it hit the large metal garbage can… landing with a thud on the hard pavement... Where he didn't move.

Mary Jane gasped and immediately snapped into action.

She ran forward to the figure… Only to stop short, once again, when she got close enough to see the figure more properly.

It… It was… _SPIDER-MAN_!

Mary Jane gaped at the masked hero on the ground a few feet from her feet.

She… she had never seen a clear picture of what he looked like before. He was too fast for any photographer to get anything more than a blur. All the world had of the Wall-Crawler were shoddy videos that were more blurry than anything.

It was strange to see him up close like this… To see his red and blue costume in full… to see him so still…

Mary Jane gasped again as she was reminded of the precarious situation he was in.

It was clear that he was unconscious… and that he needed help.

But what could she do? She couldn't very well take him to the hospital… they would unmask him… do tests on him… lock him up?

Immediately, Mary Jane knew that taking him to the hospital was out of the question.

Instead, Mary Jane stepped cautiously closer and knelt down over the unconscious, amazing Spider-Man…

Mary Jane bit her lip as she stared at his prone form, and hesitantly lifted a hand and prodded at his shoulder. "Ummm… hello? Mr. Spider-Man? Uh, are you alright?"

There was no reply, but out in the distance, the sound of sirens filled the air, and panic started to seep into her. So, she shook his shoulder more insistently. "You've got to wake up! I can't carry you out of here by myself, and the police are coming…"

Finally, she heard a groan and she almost cried out in relief at the noise. "Are you awake?"

Spider-Man lifted and turned his head towards her, and she helped him up into an upright sitting position, gently rubbing soothing circles on his back.

"Wh-What happened?" He asked, seemingly no one in particular as he rubbed his gloved hands over a spot on his masked head.

Mary Jane let out a short, breathy laugh of relief, glad to see that he was alright. "There was an explosion. I think that you just barely managed to get out of its way, but you hit your head on this metal garbage can, Spider-Man, and-"

"Spider-Who?"

Mary Jane stopped short, staring at the white eye lenses of his with wide eyes of her own. "You-You don't remember who you are?"

Spider-Man shook his head slowly at he seemed to be looking curiously at the material on his hands. "I-I don't remember anything…"

The breath left Mary Jane's chest in an instant. "Anything?"

Spider-Man shook his head and he rubbed at the same spot on his masked head. "N-No? Where are we? Who are you? Wh-Who am I?"

His voice sounded so vulnerable and confused and… scared?

Mary Jane never would have thought that she would hear such a great hero like Spider-Man sound scared in her life… But he was.

"Yo-You must have amnesia from hitting your head from that fall…" Mary Jane breathed as the situation caught up to her.

Mary Jane immediately thought over her options of what to do. It was obvious that Spider-Man couldn't just sling off by himself… he would have no idea where to go. And he needed to get out of here fast before the police or any of the public found him in such a vulnerable state.

With her mind made up, Mary Jane started to lift him with her arms, trying to get him to stand. "Come on. My Aunt Anna's apartment is close to here. You'll be safe there until we can figure out what to do with you."

Spider-Man staggered to his feet with her help, when suddenly, an electric shock came from the suit and mildly shocked the both of them.

They both yelped at the brief sting of pain that had coursed through both of their bodies.

"Wh-What was that?" Spider-Man asked her.

Mary Jane shook her head, looking at his suit curiously. "You must have had some technology or something in your suit that had short circuited in the explosion…? Then again, I can only guess…"

Spider-Man fidgeted uncomfortably against where he was leaning against her. "Wh-Why am I even wearing this? I-It's kind of _tight_ …"

Mary Jane suppressed a smirk and a snicker at the implications of what he was referring to. "Oh. I can tell." She quipped, very much noticing how the tight material looked over his muscular ass and his… other assets.

"Do-Do you have something else that I can wear?" Spider-Man asked her.

Mary Jane frowned at the question. He couldn't just take off his suit, could he? That would reveal his identity to her, and… well, she knew that she could be trustworthy with his identity. She wouldn't tell anyone.

But Spider-Man was trusting her, here. Putting his life in her very hands.

She knew that she couldn't betray that trust.

"No. You can't take the suit off. It-It would be dangerous."

How was it possible for Spider-Man to look confused as he looked at her? There was just something about the mask that seemed so open and expressive, for some reason.

Mary Jane decided that she liked it.

After a moment, Spider-Man seemed to accept what she had said and leaned more heavily against her. His arm came around her shoulder, and hers went around his waist as she supported him.

"Let's go." Mary Jane said, more insistent than before. "We don't have much more time…"

Mary Jane led him out of the alleyway, and down the darkened street towards her Aunt Anna's apartment building.

It was rather lucky that they hadn't been seen, but it seemed that the police and the fire trucks had gone to the next street over to deal with the burning building…

Mary Jane led him down the alleyway outside of the apartment building and led him up the fire escape until they reached the bedroom window of her Aunt's apartment.

"You have to wait here for me." Mary Jane told him as she set him down on the metal fire escape platform, propped against the window.

"W-Wait…" He said, him hand coming up to grab at her arm and his voice hinging on panic. "Where are you going?"

Mary Jane stared at him for a mere moment, before lifting her hand and patting the one he had on her arm, reassuringly. "I'm just going to go into the building through the front door. I have to unlock my Aunt's apartment and let you in through the window."

Spider-Man didn't let go of her arm as she tried to pull away. Mary Jane turned wide eyes to his hand… his unmovable hand of steel that she couldn't move.

So he _did_ have super strength…

"Can't I come with you?" Spider-Man asked.

Mary Jane immediately shook her head. "You can't be seen walking through the lobby in your suit."

Spider-Man tilted his head curiously. "But why?"

Mary Jane sighed, wanting to get him into the apartment before he could be seen. "I'll explain later. Look, I promise that I'll be quick. You won't even have time to miss me."

"I doubt that…" Spider-Man said as he finally loosened his grip on her arm.

Mary Jane's eyes snapped up to him in shock at his words, before she allowed a smile that was fighting at her lips.

Why did those three simple words make her feel so… giddy?

"I'll be back soon." She said, before she ran gingerly down the fire escape stairs as fast as was safe for her to do so on creaky metal.

When Mary Jane finally reached the pavement below, she looked up quickly to the spot where she knew Spider-Man was sitting and was glad to see that he was barely visible in the darkness.

Then she quickly turned the corner, at a brisk pace, and made it to the apartment lobby doors.

The wait for the elevator was unbearable for Mary Jane… She fidgeted and glanced every which way as she willed for the elevator to come to the lobby floor. She almost cried out in praise at the ding of the elevator doors opening.

When she was finally let out on the floor her aunt's apartment was on, Mary Jane ran to the correct door and jammed the key into the lock for the apartment. After some fumbling, she finally managed to get the door open, turned on the light and…

There he was. Still propped up against the window, waiting patiently for her arrival.

Mary Jane smiled and stepped forward - making sure to close and lock the door behind her - before going straight for the window, unlocking it and opening it for him. He turned at the scraping sound of the window opening, and she helped him through the opening.

"You were wrong." Spider-Man said as she laid him out on the tidily made bed. "I did miss you. I was nervous out there by myself."

It was at that moment where Mary Jane realized how young Spider-Man's voice actually sounded… and she wondered at how old he was.

Could it be that Spider-Man was only a teenager? It would explain why he wasn't an official Avenger, yet…

Mary Jane beamed at him, and replied saucily, "Well, it's difficult not to miss me, Spider."

To say that Mary Jane was confident was an understatement. It was clear very early on that her parents had no faith or confidence in her, so she made up for it by having all the confidence in herself. She made sure to have big aspirations. She wanted to be an actress and a model. She wanted to prove her worth by making it big. To prove her parents wrong.

So, for Mary Jane, to flirt with an injured superhero with amnesia in her apartment?

It was a challenge that Mary Jane was willing to accept.

She was brought back from her thoughts at the breathy laugh that had escaped Spider-Man from her words. "I'm not surprised. You are- er- well…"

"What?" She asked.

"Well, you're very pretty, er…"

Mary Jane smiled at his words. There was that giddy feeling again… "Mary Jane."

"Mary Jane…" Spider-Man said, testing out her name for himself. "So, how do we know each other, Mary Jane?"

Mary Jane tucked a strand of her red hair behind her ear and sat next to where he lay down on the mattress. "Well… you actually don't. I only just found you unconscious in that alleyway."

Spider-Man sat up slightly and tilted his head, looking at her. "So, you can't tell me anything at all?"

Mary Jane shook her head slightly, before pausing to say, "All that I can tell you is that you are Spider-Man… You live in New York, and you are the local superhero… I-I don't know your real identity… no one does. That's why you wear that mask, and why you can't take it off."

How was it possible for Spider-Man to look shocked by her words? Perhaps it was in the way his whole body stiffened?

"I… Wow." Was all that he had managed to say as he stared at her with those white eyepieces.

Mary Jane nodded, realizing how extraordinary and shocking it would be to be told that you were a superhero.

"Y-You have these powers, you see," Mary Jane said, starting to actually feel a tad bit nervous under his eyeless gaze… "You can stick to walls, and you have super strength, and you can shoot webbing out of your wrist, which you use to swing from building to building."

Spider-Man sat up even more, seemingly more shocked than ever… "I… I can do all of _that_?"

Mary Jane nodded, allowing a smile to grow on her face. "Face it, Spider, you're a real hero. You've saved a lot of people and stopped a lot of criminals. You've even fought with the Avengers!"

"Who are the Avengers?" Spider-Man asked, confusion in his tone.

"They are a group of superheroes that fight together sometimes."

She trailed off as she thought of the Avengers… Perhaps they could help Spider-Man? But she had no way of knowing how to get into contact with any of them… short of contacting the media and announcing that she had Spider-Man in her aunt's apartment and that they needed to come and help him.

"You must be a good person…" Spider-Man said suddenly, breaking her out of her thoughts. While simultaneously startling her with the genuine compliment. "To protect my identity like this… and to help me when I can't remember anything."

For the first time, Mary Jane actually blushed. She… She had never heard something so nice that was said to her, before. She normally only got compliments from people about her looks… never before had she been told that someone thought that she was a good person. It made her feel… light.

There was a brief prick of tears in her eyes, before she pushed it away. "I…" She paused, unsure of what to say to such a thing. Before she finally settled on a simple, "Thank-you."

"Your welcome." Spider-Man said back, in a soft voice, as his gloved hand reached out and grabbed hers softly.

They held hands for a long, quiet moment. With each second passing, Mary Jane felt her heart beat faster and her breathing quicken.

What was wrong with her? She was _Mary Jane Watson_. She had all the confidence in the world! She never let herself get worked up over something as silly as the male gender… It was the guys that she encountered that reacted this way to her, not the other way around…

And yet, as she thought all of this, she found herself become dizzy as all her attention was on where her hand was clasped in his.

Was she, perhaps, infatuated?

She wasn't sure… She had never had an experience like this to compare this feeling to.

"So…" Spider-Man said suddenly, breaking the silence. "Since you can't tell me much about who I am, what do you suppose we do?"

Mary Jane bit her lip, glad that the question distracted her from the dilemma that she was facing within. "Well… I had been thinking about that. I thought that we could maybe try to let the Avengers know, but I have no idea how we could even begin to contact them… Not to mention that since the Sokovia Accords, the Avengers had mostly disbanded… The only Avenger that I can think that might actually be in the city would be Tony Stark…"

"Wait… _Tony_?" Spider-Man suddenly interrupted.

Mary Jane turned to him, a flash of surprise in her eyes. "You-You remember that name?"

Spider-Man nodded, before pausing immediately. "Yes and no. I mean… it does sound familiar… When you said it just now, something… like a memory came back to me…"

Mary Jane's eyes widened as she turned towards him more insistently, fully facing him now. "A memory? Like what?"

"It-It was of Tony… He-He called me, 'Kid'... And, and something about how if I am nothing without this suit, then I shouldn't have it…"

Spider-Man trailed off… his entire demeanor becoming quite somber.

"What is it?" Mary Jane asked, marveling at what he had just told him. For one, confirming that Spider-Man was, in fact, quite young from how Tony Stark called him, 'Kid'.

Spider-Man shook his head, rubbing his free gloved hand over down his face. "It-It's nothing… It's just that… I didn't like how I felt when he had said that he had wanted to take away my suit… It-It must have been a real low-point for me."

The vulnerability that he displayed right then made him seem so… _human_ to Mary Jane. It made him more of a person to her and less of a - heroic icon. She squeezed his hand and smiled widely at him. "But don't you see?! You remembered something! You might be getting your memory back!"

Spider-man's demeanor seemed to lighten measurably at her words, and said, "Maybe if we keep talking, more will come back to me!"

He seemed excited at the prospect, and Mary Jane marveled at the simple fact that he was facing this situation bravely and head-on, instead of freaking out like most people would.

"Let's talk about Tony some more. Maybe you will remember some way to be able to contact him so he can help."

And so they talked… both completely unaware that the man that they were currently talking about was consoling a worried aunt at that very moment, concerning her missing nephew…

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A/N: Please leave me a review if you like the story and want me to continue! I love to read your thoughts and comments! You can even leave suggestions! :)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

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Tony rushed into the apartment building as fast as he could. Opting to skip the elevator, and instead choosing to take the stairs two steps at a time.

He hadn't the patience to wait for an elevator... especially with his knowledge at how slow this one was.

In truth, Tony Stark was anxious. An emotion that he wasn't all that used to feeling. But he still felt it.

He had been in the middle of a meeting with General Thaddeus Ross regarding the whereabouts on Captain America, aka Steve Rogers, and the rest of his... _merry band_. To say that Tony was tired of going around in circles, talking and dissecting endlessly about the Cap', was a monumental understatement.

Tony knew that all that he needed to do was to tell the general about that sorry excuse of technology that calls itself a cell phone, which Steve had sent him, in order to end all of these discussions... But he still couldn't bring himself to bring it up.

So, they talked. They discussed. Again and _again_...

There had been a brief, happy interruption towards the beginning of the meeting sent from Karen, Peter's A.I... Apparently, Peter was feeling soft towards a bunch of criminals that feared for their lives, and wanted Tony to make room for them in the Special Holding Facilities at the Avengers Headquarters.

Tony had to admit, that he really liked the heart on the kid. Though, it didn't make much sense to Tony as to why Peter even bothered to stop and listen to what criminals had to say...

 _That kid_... Tony had thought, with a shake of his head, _Always wanting to see the best in people._

Tony was no longer surprised by the fondness in his tone of thoughts as he thought of Peter... At first, he had tried to push it away, not wanting to forge any sort of connection to the teenager. But somewhere down the line, Peter had worked his way into what little heart Tony actually had, and Tony now saw him as a _son_ of sorts...

Tony had never thought that he would have that sort of connection with anyone within his lifetime. But it had happened, and Tony was no longer going to fight it.

He had chosen to embrace it.

Which was why - over two hours later - when he had gotten a frantic call from the gorgeous May Parker asking where Peter was, Tony had found himself _panicking_.

He had immediately cut off what General Ross had been about to say and ended the meeting promptly right then.

Then, he had wasted no time in stepping into one of his Lamborghini's and sped through the streets of New York, all the way to Queens.

That was where Tony had found himself right then. He ran up to the door that belonged to the small family that he now loved, and immediately banged on the door.

It wasn't a moment later when May, beautiful May, had wretched open the door. Her face was contorted with lines of worry, her eyes red, and her cheeks splotchy...

It was clear to Tony that she had been crying.

"What happened?" Tony asked immediately, and without waiting for any sort of formality of her inviting him in, he walked past her into the apartment. He made himself at home by taking off his jacket and taking out his mini tablet, immediately going through the motions of locating Peter's tracker that Tony had installed into the spider suit.

May let out a shaky breath and ran a twitchy hand through her long, brown hair. "I-I don't know... I mean, I had talked to him two hours ago on the phone, to rip into him about being late for curfew, and-and he said something about chasing a lead, and about taking down the entire city's Crime Lords, and-"

This certainly snapped Tony's rapt attention to her face.

 _"Crime Lords?!_ " His fingers stopped pressing buttons on his tablet as he stared at her in surprise... before the seeping feeling of defensive anger started to settle within him. "Why didn't Peter _call me?!_ That is- that's _too big_ for him to handle!"

May nodded, biting her lip as the anxiety built within her ever more. "I _know._ That's what I said, and I asked him if he had called you, but he said that he had and that you were already on your way..."

Tony immediately shook his head in negative. "He never called me to say that he was going after any Crime Lords. I had only gotten an alert from Karen about two hours ago to say that Peter wanted me to do criminal cleanup for him..."

May turned away from him, nervously bringing her finger up to her mouth and chewing on her fingernail, as she began to pace. "Well, anyways, I had thought that it was taking a bit too long since I last heard from him, so I decided to call... Only it _didn't ring_... I didn't even hear Karen's voice on the phone saying, 'Connecting you to Peter Parker'! The line was just - _dead!_ Th-That's when I knew that something had to be wrong! An-And then I called you and..."

She trailed off as she started to cry once again. Tony immediately stepped forward and gathered her into his arms, trying to console her. "Hey... It will be alright, May. I'm looking up where the tracker in the suit will say he will be, and we will go right there and find him. Then you can ground him until he's married. I promise."

May nodded against his chest for a mere moment, before pulling back and pushing him away... away towards where he had set down his tablet on the kitchen counter.

Tony took the hint and picked up his tablet again, once more going through the motions of activating the tracker in Peter's suit.

It didn't take very long until a small 'ding' came from the device, signifying that they had results.

But as Tony stared at the tablet, he looked at the screen in dubious disbelief.

"That-That can't be right..." He said as he once again started pressing buttons on the device.

"What is it?" May asked, worried for a whole new set of reasons, now.

Tony looked up at her, confusion in his eyes. "It says that Peter is in the apartment right now... In fact," Tony stood, his tablet still in hand as he walked over to the couch that was sitting against the far wall. "It says that Peter is right in this very spot..."

...

"This is the _coolest_ thing, ever!" Spider-Man exclaimed from his upside down position from the bedroom ceiling.

Mary Jane couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm. It was actually rather contagious...

She realized rather quickly that Spider-Man was a bit of a talker... alright, maybe a _huge_ talker. In fact, she would have a hard time getting the man to shut up! Not that she wanted to...

"Doesn't all that blood rushing to your head make your head injury worse?" Mary Jane couldn't help but ask.

Spider-Man dropped from his position from the ceiling, landing perfectly on light feet. He shook his head. "No, actually... my head is feeling a lot better. And I think I had a nasty bruise on my side earlier, but that doesn't hurt anymore, either."

Mary Jane's eyebrows rose as she pondered this. "Well, do you think that you have super healing?"

Spider-Man pondered this as well, before he shrugged. "Seems like the best explanation to me. Might be the reason why some of my memories are coming back so suddenly..."

That was true. His brain must be healing itself at that very moment. There were certain times that key words that she said had triggered a memory for him, and he would suddenly gasp out loud as it played in his mind.

One of those instances had been when she called him, 'spider', again, and he had gasped and told her that he suddenly remembered the day he had gotten his superpowers. And much to her delight, he had told her about it...

 _"I was watching an experiment at Midtech Industries... Doctor Connors, one of the top leading scientists there, had been doing a series of experiments with cross-species mutation. They had done all sorts of experiments on different animals... giving them traits from other species. And there was a spider... it must have been one of their experiments and had escaped. Because, the next thing I knew, it had bitten me. I had gotten really sick and I woke up with these powers..."_

It was crazy to Mary Jane that she now knew the origins of his powers! But a part of her was worried that he would regret telling her about it. She had asked him if he should really be telling her all of this personal stuff about himself, and he had shrugged, saying, _"_ _You had the chance to unmask me, but you didn't. I trust you."_

His trust in her made her feel all warm inside. Even now, it still managed to put a smile on Mary Jane's lips as she thought of it.

Spider-Man chose the next moment to come and sit next to her on the bed again. "We've been talking so much about me, but I want to get to know more about you... I mean, you _did_ save me back in that alleyway, so that actually makes you _my_ hero."

Mary Jane grinned at him, and boldly reached out and threaded their fingers together, once again... causing Spider-Man to choke over the unexpectedness of the action. "What do you want to know?"

Spider-Man looked down at their interwoven fingers for a moment, thinking... "Well, you had said that this is your aunt's apartment, right?"

Mary Jane nodded. "Yes."

Spider-Man tilted his head in contemplation. "Then where are your parents?"

Mary Jane frowned slightly at the question... which Spider-Man saw and immediately started apologizing.

"I'm so sorry! That was stupid... _I'm_ stupid. _So_ stupid. You don't have to answer..."

But Mary Jane shook her head and smiled slightly over at him. "No. It's alright. You shouldn't have to be the only one revealing personal secrets tonight..." Mary Jane took in a deep breath before continuing. "My parents, they... fight. A lot. As in screaming, throwing things at each other fighting. So, whenever I can't stand the sound of their shouting, I come to my Aunt Anna's apartment."

Spider-Man nodded solemnly as he listened to her words. "Doesn't sound easy..."

His tone was compassionate. As though he wanted so badly to change things for her.

Mary Jane shrugged, before saying, "Everyone has at least one thing in their life to make things difficult. I figure that I could either mope around about it, or I can not let it bother me and try to be the best person I can be..." Mary Jane turned to look at him with a small smile. "Besides, I can't imagine that it's easy to suddenly wake up as a superhero with amnesia..."

Spider-Man held up a finger from his free hand in a scolding manner. "Hey... I thought that we were done talking about me here. Tell me more about you. What do you like to do?"

Mary Jane couldn't help but grin at his upbeat tone and his change of subject to a lighter topic. "Well... I want to be an actress and a model one day..."

"You would be _perfect_ for that!" Spider-Man interrupted enthusiastically, his whole demeanor perking up with positivity.

Mary Jane couldn't help but snicker slightly. "And how would you know?"

This seemed to stop Spider-Man short... as he pulled in on himself with what could only be described as sheepishness. "Er... well, I mean... you _are_ kinda hot..."

Mary Jane stared at him for a moment, before she burst out laughing, letting go of his hand to hold her stomach as she fell back on the mattress. "Is Spider-Man _really_ embarrassed?! Alert the media! Spider-Man's secret weakness is teenaged girls!"

"It-It is _not!_ " Spider-Man exclaimed, his voice rising as he got defensive. "I mean, I don't know or remember any of my weaknesses, but teenage girls _can't_ be one of them!"

Mary Jane laughed even more, glad to be getting such a big reaction out of him. "Face it, Spider! Teenage girls are your kryptonite! But you have to admit, it's a whole lot better of a weakness than a big hunk of space rock..."

Spider-Man tilted his head towards her. "R-Really?"

Mary Jane nodded as she calmed down. She sat up and bumped her shoulder up against his. "Yep. Very _'James Bond'_ of you to have a weakness for the ladies."

She could both sense and hear the smile on his lips. "Call me Man... _Spider_ -Man."

"Hey! You remembered a pop culture reference!" Mary Jane beamed at him.

Spider-Man chuckled a bit, before replying, "Actually two. I knew what your kryptonite reference was. In fact, I think that I remember having a Superman bedspread was I was a little kid... Yeah... I remember it now. But that quickly changed to Iron Man sheets, when..."

He broke off with a gasp, a sign that Mary Jane had quickly learned was that he had triggered another memory. She patiently waited for his to explain his memory. She wasn't disappointed. "When I was a kid, I was at the Stark Expo that night when the drones were attacking... It had been chaos! People were running around, and-and I had gotten separated by... well, _whoever_ had taken me."

Mary Jane nodded as she listened, silently letting him know that she was following along.

"I was wearing one of those toy Iron Man masks and gloves, and one of those drones had landed in front of me. I-I thought that I could be a hero... blast the drone with my fake gloves, just like Iron Man. The drone had aimed its missile right at me, when it was suddenly blasted to pieces!"

She looked at him incredulously, wondering if he was just remembering an Iron Man fantasy that he had as a boy.

"At first, I thought that I was the one who had blasted the drone... but then, I turned around and there was Iron Man, standing right behind me. _He_ was the one who had really blasted the drone. But then, right before he flew off again, to fight more drones, he had looked at me and said, 'Nice work, Kid.'..."

Mary Jane stared at him, before she brought her legs up and hugged her knees to her chest. "Sounds traumatizing..."

Spider-Man immediately shook his head. "No... If anything, it made me idolize Tony even more."

"The two of you are close, then?"

It was news to Mary Jane. It certainly wasn't public knowledge that Iron Man and Spider-Man had any sort of bond, at all... Sure, they had teamed up a couple of times, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.

"Yeah..." Spider-Man said slowly, still slightly uncertain. "I think we are."

They were quiet for a brief moment, before Spider-Man let out a long sigh.

"What is it?" She asked, worried.

Spider-Man shook his head and waved off her concern. "It's nothing. It's just that, how can I remember all of that, but not even remember my own name?"

Relaxing, Mary Jane smiled slightly at him as she released the hold she had on her knees. "Hey, it will all come back to you. Maybe not in this very moment, but it will soon."

Spider-Man merely nodded, not seeming very reassured by her words.

Mary Jane suddenly looked away from him and bit her lip, tucking strands of red hair behind her ear nervously. "And-And when that does happen, when you remember everything..."

She trailed off, unsure if she should continue with what she wanted to say.

"Yes?" He asked.

Mary Jane swallowed, finally looking at him. "Will you promise me something?"

Spider-Man nodded, hesitantly, and she continued. "When you get your memory back, will you promise that... you won't forget me?"

Mary Jane looked down again as she had said it. There. She had put it out there. It may not have been with the 'Mary Jane' level of confidence she was used to, but she still had been brave enough to say it.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Spider-Man relax. "Mary Jane..." He reached out and took her hand once again in his, grasping it tight. " _How_ could I ever forget you?"

Mary Jane let out the breath that she had been holding as she beamed at him, taking that very moment to suddenly launch herself at him in a fierce hug... surprising them both at the action.

Spider-Man had froze initially at the embrace, his entire body tense, before his relaxed and wound his arms around her torso, pulling her closer. She marveled at how strong his arms felt around her... how deliciously hard his pecs and washboards abs felt against her.

She was most _definitely_ infatuated.

Mary Jane turned her head so that her chin rested on his shoulder, breathing in his manly musk... but was also surprised to notice that he actually smelled quite clean. Spider-Man drew circles on her side where his hand rested, and let out a satisfied sigh.

"Besides," Spider-Man suddenly said, his mouth right at her ear. "It's impossible for a person to forget their heroes..."

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A/N: Thanks to the few of you who have left reviews so far! I love reading them! Please, if you are new or old to reading this, please leave me a review and let me know what you think! :)


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

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Tony was more than a little _agitated_.

It just didn't make _any sense!_

How was is that his tablet kept alerting him that Peter was in the room, when Peter obviously wasn't present at all?

Unless...

"May," Tony called out carefully to the distressed aunt who was pacing with worry about her nephew. "You don't think that Peter took the tracker out of his suit again, do you? Like he did in D.C.?"

Yeah... he had told May all about _that_ story. How Peter had put the tracker from his suit on a hotel _lamp_ of all things...

May immediately shook her head, before pausing, suddenly looking uncertain. "I didn't think that he would have, but he _did_ lie to me about calling you tonight. So, I guess anything is possible."

Tony stood from the barstool that he had been sitting on, and walked over to the couch that his tablet indicated Peter was located. He pulled the couch out, and proceeded to look behind it, searching for the small, little microchip that was Peter's tracker.

It was nowhere in sight.

Tony frowned and looked down at his tablet once again. And what he saw caused his eyes to widen.

"His tracker moved slightly." Tony commented out loud to himself. He peered up at the couch that was now in the middle of the living room and back down to his tablet.

"But not in that direction..." He said, indicating to the couch.

Tony turned his whole body towards the wall that the couch had just vacated. "It moved more in the _opposite_ direction..."

...

"I think… I think I'm drifting off fast…" Spider-Man said, his voice laden thick with sleep.

When they had finally released each other from their hug earlier, they both silently decided to lie down on the bed. As it was clear that Spider-Man was nearing the point of exhaustion.

"Well, that makes sense…" Mary Jane whispered back from her position on the bed next to him. They were both lying down, facing each other. "You've had quite the busy night. Tends to exhaust people."

Spider-Man merely slowly nodded, in a tired and distracted manner.

"Are you sure that it's alright if I stay here?" He asked, his voice sounding hesitant.

"Of course." Mary Jane said immediately, her tone indicating that she wouldn't have it any other way.

Spider-Man nodded his acceptance and gratitude. "Goodnight, Mary Jane…"

His masked head burrowed further into the pillow, and Mary Jane couldn't help but smile fondly at the endearing action.

"Don't let the bedbugs bite, Spider."

Spider-Man let out a lone amused breath, before his breathing evened out, and Mary Jane knew that she had lost him to the land of sleep.

Mary Jane sighed, not at all tired yet, as she thought over what their options were.

Their best bet was to get Spider-Man to Tony Stark if he didn't regain his full memory soon.

But Mary Jane found her innermost thoughts and desires rebelling against the idea.

 _She_ wanted to be the one to help Spider-Man with his recovery. And she knew the reason why...

She didn't want to let him go.

If he left, who knows when she would see him again...? _If_ she would ever see him again.

This might very well be the only time she would ever spend time with him. And she wanted it to last, if that were the case.

 _He did say that he wouldn't forget about you..._ Her thoughts pointed out to her.

Mary Jane frowned at that. Sure, he said that he wouldn't forget her, but that didn't mean that he would go out of his way to spend any time with her. _Especially_ after he regained his memory. Once he is fully aware of his life and the situation at hand, he might go back on his promise to her.

With a heavy sigh, Mary Jane turned onto her back, staring at the ceiling with furrowed brows.

When suddenly...

 _Knock Knock Knock..._

The abrupt noise startled her enough that she almost fell out of the bed.

Mary Jane sat up and stared at the door skeptically.

Who could it be? _Especially_ at this hour? And with her Aunt Anna out of town...

Mary Jane turned her eyes over to Spider-Man on the bed... and saw that the knocking noise hadn't disturbed his sleep at all.

Spider-Man was well and truly dead to the world...

The knocking came again, this time more insistent.

Mary Jane stood, on unsteady feet, and slowly made her way over to the door.

She stopped in front of it, and leaned in closer to peer through the eye hole, and...

Mary Jane gasped, stepped back and immediately unlocked the deadbolt.

She threw open the door, wide, and gaped at the appearance of _Tony Stark_ in her Aunt Anna's doorway.

He was looking at her warily, with untrusting eyes, as if he were trying to judge her character with one single look.

"Y-You're..." She stuttered. "You're..."

"Yeah, yeah. I know who I am." He said suddenly, with a roll of his eyes as he waved her off. "Listen, I'm looking for-"

"I know who you're looking for," Mary Jane interrupted, all of a sudden finding her voice. She stepped back to allow entrance for the billionaire superhero. "He's right in the room there... on the bed."

Tony's eyes widened, and didn't wait for any further invitation before stepping forward into the apartment, and to the bedroom she had pointed to.

Mary Jane followed him, and almost ran right into his back as he paused right in the open doorway. She watched Mr. Stark's face as he took in the brightly colored superhero sleeping on the bed... and to say that Mr. Stark's entire body _melted_ with relief, would be an understatement. "Thank God..."

Mr. Stark turned attention to look at her out of the corner of his eyes. "How long has he been unconscious?"

Mary Jane leaned against the doorway mantle, crossing her arms leisurely. "He wasn't just a moment ago. He only just fell asleep."

Mr. Stark frowned at her answer. "Then why didn't he just leave? Unless..." He turned to look at her fully now. "He isn't hurt, is he?"

Mary Jane bit her lip, looking over at the person in question on the bed. "According to what he told me, he only had a few scrapes and bruises. But those have apparently already healed. But-"

"Then why didn't he at least check in to let us know that he was alright?" Tony snapped, looking quite agitated as he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Mary Jane held up her hands defensively. "He didn't know, okay? Look... Spider-Man, he... he has amnesia."

Mr. Stark's eyes snapped to hers, tension once again taking over his body. "What happened?"

So, she told him what had happened. With the building exploding, Spider-Man hitting his head on the metal garbage can, Mary Jane finding him and taking him here...

"He's been remembering bits and pieces." Mary Jane continued, watching Mr. Stark but unable to get a read on his emotions. "Like he remembers a bit about you and how he had gotten his powers. But the rest is just blank, for now. I think that his super healing is mending his brain as we speak..."

She finally stopped talking, waiting for any sort of reaction from Mr. Stark.

He didn't give her much of one. Instead, he walked forward and sat down on the chair next to the bed, looking at Spider-Man's prone form. Mary Jane stayed standing in the doorway, watching them both.

Until finally, Mr. Stark broke the silence. "He still has his mask on..."

Mary Jane nodded, even though Mr. Stark wasn't looking at her to see the movement. "It-It just didn't seem right... he wears a mask for a reason, and he was completely helpless. He was putting all of his trust in me. I just... well, I couldn't betray it."

Tony turned his head to look at her, this time with appraising eyes. "I guess we can be glad that it was you who had found him rather than anyone else. Thank-you for taking care of him... and for keeping his secret safe."

Mary Jane smiled at the praise. Up until that moment, Mr. Stark had been nothing but abrasive towards her. It seemed that she had finally won some approval points from the man. "It was really nothing. If anything, Spider-Man made some great company. You ever notice that he tends to talk... a lot?"

Mr. Stark let out a laugh, the noise still didn't serve to wake Spider-Man from his deep sleep. "Don't I know it! The Kid won't ever learn how to shut up!"

Mary Jane was surprised by the sound of affection in Mr. Stark's voice as he said this. It was clear that Spider-Man and Tony Stark were closer than anyone realized. The thought caused a smile to come to her face, knowing that she was putting Spider-Man into good hands.

"How did you even know that he was here?" She asked suddenly, curious.

Mr. Stark held up the tablet that she had forgotten he was holding. "There's a tracker in his suit. Put there for instances just like these."

Mary Jane grinned. "Convenient."

"Yeah," Tony said as he suddenly stood. "So, listen. We better get going..."

Mary Jane stood up straight, feeling disappointment coursing through her. "Oh. Of course."

Mr. Stark nodded, before he bent over a gently lifted Spider-Man's lithe body up over his shoulder. Spider-Man didn't even stir from his deep sleep. "Thanks again for taking care of him. I really appreciate." And his voice really did indicate that he did.

Mary Jane walked ahead of them, opening the door wide enough for them to go through.

As Mr. Stark walked out into the hallway, Mary Jane couldn't help but stop him.

"Mr. Stark..."

Mr. Stark paused, looking back at her with a single, raised eyebrow... taking the time to adjust his hold on Spider-Man. "Yeah, kid?"

Mary Jane but her lip, and tucked strands of her red hair behind her ear. "Take care of him, okay?"

Mr. Stark stared at her for a brief moment, before smiling and saying, "Always do, Kid... see you around."

Mary Jane nodded, before she closed the door after them... turning her body so that she leaned heavily against the thick wood.

It was probably the last time that she would ever get to see Spider-Man...

And she didn't even get to say goodbye.

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A/N: Let me know your thoughts by leaving me a review! :)


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

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Tony finally breathed a sigh of relief now that he had Peter… _safe_ in his arms. He had waited until the red-headed girl had closed the door to her apartment before he had finally turned to the door right next to it…

Peter had been missing in the apartment next door _the entire time_ … It would have been funny in its irony if Tony and May hadn't been so worried about him.

Tony walked up to the Parker's door, and opened it with any preamble. May Parker was just as he had left her - pacing and biting her nails with anxiety.

But that stopped as soon as she noticed Tony standing in the doorway, with a spider-clad superhero draped over his shoulder…

"Oh, _thank God!_ " May exclaimed, stepping forward immediately, as though she intended to take Peter right out from Tony's arms and into her own.

"Careful," Tony said, as he closed the door behind him, then proceeded to walk forward towards Peter's bedroom. "Apparently, he has hit his head… He might not be fully healed, yet."

May nodded, and ran forward to get the door to Peter's bedroom open.

The room was a mess… just as Tony expected any teen-aged boy's room to be. But that hardly concerned him now, as he set Peter down onto the single-bed mattress.

"Do you know what happened?" May asked anxiously behind him.

Tony hit the spider emblem on Peter's chest, loosening the suit so that he could get it off of him. "Well, a girl had found him unconscious in an alleyway… She told me that a building had exploded and that she saw Spider-Man hit his head on a metal garbage can, before falling to the ground. He must have been thrown through the air by the impact of the blast." Tony slipped the loose red and blue material off of the teen's body, leaving him clad in only his boxer briefs. A quick scan of Peter's body told him that the girl had been right that he had only a few scrapes and bruises. There had to have been a real nasty bruise on his right side, but it was now a dark, yellowish color… meaning that it was almost healed.  
Then, finally, Tony took off the mask… revealing the blissfully unaware face of Peter Parker as he slept.

Tony looked over to May, and it was clear that she was trying to keep her emotions in check… for the sake of finding out answers. "So… So, he hasn't woken up since?"

Tony shook his head. "No. The girl that found him said that he was awake a little while ago, and actually very talkative… which is a good sign. Normal behavior for Peter."

May's brows furrowed in confusion. "Then why didn't he come home? Or at the very least, _call!_ He had to have known that we were worried about him…!"

Sighing, Tony ran a hand down in face. This was going to be difficult… "Well, the girl said that… well, he has amnesia, May."

May's eyes widened, and she just stared at him as though he had grown two heads. When she finally moved, it was to pull out the desk chair so that she could fall into it. She bent over, resting her head in her hands, looking thoroughly exhausted. "Am-Amnesia?"

Tony nodded, even though she wasn't even looking at him. "But the girl also said that memories were starting to come back to him." Tony tried to reassure. "It's his super healing ability at work. She even said that he remembers bits and pieces of me, so it won't be too long before he regains all of his memories. What would take the average person months to years to remember, it will only take Peter up to a couple of weeks, at the most."

May finally looked up, her face set fresh with a whole new set of worries. "So, this girl… who found him… we have to worry about her knowing his secret identity?"

Tony shook his head as he smiled slightly at the integrity of the red-headed girl who had saved and protected his honorary-almost-son. "She said that it didn't feel right to take the mask off when Peter was so helpless. He could have been found by someone worse… we're lucky he didn't."

May nodded, looking relieved. "I'm just glad that he's alright…"

"Yeah…" Tony said, looking at Peter with masked emotion. "He'll be alright. He's strong." Then he turned to May, and held out his hand to her, helping her to her feet.

"Let him rest… His mind, and body for that matter, needs it." He led her to the door, May looking back at her nephew as though she were reluctant to leave him, even for a second. Tony smiled, May was a good Aunt. "Besides, you look like you could use a strong cup of coffee."

May looked at him then, and finally smiled slightly at him. "I think that I'm going to need something a lot _stronger_ than coffee…"

Tony nodded, as he closed the bedroom door behind him, leading them both to the kitchen. "Irish coffee, it is!"

…

The first feelings of awareness that had reached him was that he was too hot. Almost unbearably so. Enough for it to wake him out of sleep. It had to have come from the thick blanket that he felt draped over his body. He wondered when that was put on him.

The second thing that he was aware of were the fingers running through his hair, brushing it away from his forehead.

It felt nice.

"Hmmm…" He groaned out, his eyes still closed, enjoying the comforting feeling. "Mary Jane…"

The fingers paused, before a voice rang out, interrupting his half-sleep. "Who's Mary Jane?"

His eyes snapped open wide.

It wasn't a voice that he was familiar with… only… at the same time, it _was_ familiar.

His gaze met with the brown eyes of a middle-aged woman. She had long, brown hair which was parted down the middle, and pinned up by a large hair clip.

He panicked. Shooting up from his prone position on the bed, he jumped back so that he latched onto the wall - cornering himself protectively, just as a spider would.

"Wh- _Who_ _ **are**_ _you?!_ " He exclaimed as he stared holes into the strange woman's face. " _ **Where's**_ _Mary Jane?!_ "

He started to hyperventilate, his chest heaving as he took in his surroundings. It wasn't the room he had fallen asleep in. " _Where even_ _ **are**_ _we?!_ "

The woman stared back at him, her mouth open, as though she intended to speak - but couldn't find the words - and her eyes were sad…

Why were they sad?

" _What did you_ _ **do**_ _to Mary Jane?!_ " He exclaimed, his tone getting sharper as the urgency of the situation started to settle in. "If you _hurt_ her, I'll-"

"I haven't hurt anyone." The woman interrupted, seeming to finally have found her voice. Her voice consoling, though it sounded forced. "I was just in here to make sure that you were alright."

This caused him to pause. And he looked at her skeptically, trying to study her to see if she were actually being truthful with him.

When out of the corner of his eye, he noticed his arm… his _bare_ arm!

He gasped as he looked down at himself. What _happened_ to _his suit?!_

 _No, no, no, no, no!_ This was a _nightmare_! Now this strange woman _knew_ his _secret identity!_ Mary Jane had told him that he shouldn't take his suit off, but here he woke up in a strange place without it!

" _Where's my suit?!_ " He asked, panicking, his chest heaving once again.

When suddenly, the door opened…

"Hey, Kid," Tony Stark said from the open doorway, holding his hands up in a reassuring manner. Apparently trying to calm him down.

"T- _Tony?_ " He asked, completely shocked by the man's sudden appearance.

Tony nodded, smiling slightly as he walked closer. "That's right, Kid. Look, I know that it must be scary and disorienting to wake up in a place that you don't recognize, but you are safe here… in fact, this _is_ your bedroom."

He looked around the small room with new eyes… it wasn't familiar to him at all. But it _had_ to be his, because Tony said that it was.

His eyes shot back to the woman, who was staring back at him with sad and imploring eyes. "Th- I mean, if you say that this is a safe place, then _who_ is she?"

He nodded at the woman with his head, indicating to her, as his hands still kept him attached to the wall.

Tony frowned at the question. "Now don't go hurting her feelings, Kid… This is your aunt. Don't you remember anything about her?"

He stared back at the woman, eyes going wide as it was revealed what she was to him.

"A-Aunt…?"

Then suddenly, a memory came to him.

 _It was the woman - his aunt - in front of him. He was young… no older than seven years old._

 _His aunt walked towards him, a slight, sad smile on her lips, and her eyes red-rimmed._

 _Then she had knelt down in front of him, getting right to eye-level as she took both of his hands into hers. "Peter… you-you're going to be staying with your Uncle Ben and I from now on…"_

 _His younger self started to cry, and shook his head fervently. "No... I don't want to! I want to live with my mom and dad...!"_

 _He saw as tears slipped down his aunt's cheeks, as she looked down at their clasped hands. "Your parents, Peter… they loved you so very much. But they are in a better place now, a place they can't come back from."_

 _He started to cry even harder. Not wanting to believe it._

 _"_ _I know it's hard…" His aunt continued. "And I know that your Uncle Ben and I can't ever replace your mom and dad, but we are going to love you just as much as they did. In fact, we already do. As though you are our own son… We love you, Peter…"_

He was brought back from the memory… and just as the others, it had been so vivid as it played in his mind.

And he realized that tears had leaked out from his eyes and onto his cheeks as he was brought back to the present.

"A-Aunt May?" He said, as he looked at the woman before him who had practically raised him.

A relieved smile came to his Aunt May's tear-stained face. "Y-You remember me?"

He nodded slowly, and let himself slide down from his position on the wall, landing on the mattress. "I remembered the day you told me that I was going to live with you and Uncle Ben…"

He brought a hand up and rubbed at his head, as though he were trying to will more memories to come back to him. Then he looked back up at the two adults who were willing him to say more with their eyes. "M-My name is Peter, isn't it?"

Aunt May grinned and nodded excessively, choosing to stand and went to sit next to him as she grabbed his hands in both of hers. " _Yes_ , Peter. That's your name. _Thank God_ it's starting to come back to you! I was starting to worry that it wouldn't come back to you, at all!"

She let go of his hands and pulled him into her arms, squeezing him tight against her. Peter followed willfully, even though he hardly knew much about the woman who was holding him… But it still felt nice to be cared for in this very confusing time.

"My parents are dead… aren't they?" He said suddenly, his voice emotionless. Aunt May froze as his tactless remark registered with her.

"Yes."

Her answer sounded simple, but held within it a voiceless, heavy weight.

Peter swallowed. "H-How?"

Aunt May pressed him further into her, running her fingers through his hair once again. "It was a plane crash…"

Peter nodded, not really knowing what to feel. If anything, he felt terrible for not remembering anything about the two people who had created him.

"And Uncle Ben…?" Peter asked, his voice quiet. "Where is he?"

Aunt May stiffened, and Peter knew that he had his answer.

"It's just us then?" Peter asked, before she was forced to say anything to him that brought up painful memories for her.

Aunt May nodded against him, the movement causing her head to hit against his own.

Tony chose that moment to clear his throat. "Look, I may not be family… but, well, the two of you aren't alone."

Peter peaked over at the man before him, somehow knowing that it was uncomfortable for Tony to reveal so much about his feelings… and it meant all the more to Peter knowing that Tony only did so because he cared about them.

So, Peter smiled at Tony… a closed mouth one that let the man know that he understood, and felt the same way.

Peter backed away from Aunt May's embrace, looking down at his hands with a thoughtful expression. "I know that this isn't going to be easy… with my memory on the fritz for a while. And I'm sorry for how I acted when I woke up, May. But I'm really going to be needing your help for a while…"

May nodded excessively, her hand went back up to brush back his hair. "You can take all the time that you need, sweetheart. We'll be there for you every step of the way." She looked up at Tony, an imploring look in her gaze. "Isn't that right, Mr. Stark?"

Tony stared at them, seeming to be at a loss for words, before he softened. "Of course. I'll just have to speak to Happy and Pepper… work a few things around."

Peter beamed at him, and that look seemed to make it all worth it to Tony. Tony turned, cell phone in hand, going to the other room to make the intended calls.

When Peter and Aunt May were alone, Peter turned towards her, questions in his eyes. "So… What did happen to Mary Jane?"

Aunt May frowned. "I'm not sure who you are talking about, Pete."

Peter's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, thinking about the beautiful, red-headed girl who had taken care of him in his time of need. "She was the girl that found me in the alleyway."

"Oh!" Aunt May's entire expression lightened. "I'm not sure… I didn't meet her. All I know is that Tony left to get you last night, and he came back with you. You were draped over his shoulder, so deep asleep and blissfully unaware to the world…"

She poked him teasingly, but Peter didn't have the heart to even muster a smile.

"So… We didn't even get the chance to say goodbye?"

….

" _Fucking_ Spider-Man…" Flint Marko muttered, sitting in his jail cell next to some _hot shot_ named _Mac Gargan_.

Flint was royally pissed. And when he wasn't pissed, he was downright terrified of the Big Man coming after them.

After Spider-Man had swung off the night before, leaving them all webbed to surfaces inside of the van, they had waited for Tony Stark's men - or robots - to come collect them for the Avengers Prison.

Only, they hadn't shown up…

Instead, the cops had been the ones to show up.

 _"_ _There has to be some mistake!" Flint had yelled as they police cuffed him. "Tony Stark is supposed to be coming for us for the Avengers Prison!"_

 _"_ _Sure, sure…" One of the cops said, his voice thick with bored sarcasm, as he pushed Flint's head down to get him in the back of the cruiser. "And I've got a secret love-child with the Hulk."_

Now he was a _sitting_ _duck_ in this jail cell… waiting for the Big Man to arrive to make him a _dead_ duck…

"I hear you on that one." Mac Gargan commented over on his bed. "That dumbass Wall-Crawler is the reason I'm here in the first place."

Flint grunted, turning his back to his cellmate. "No one cares, Gargan."

Mac let out an annoyed sound, before continuing talking anyways. "You know… the Vulture is here is this joint, as well…"

"Again with the not caring…" Flint hissed, his fists clenching in his annoyance.

If this was how he was going to spend his last hours, he wanted it to be in relative peace.

"I have a theory that my old friend, Toomes, knows the Web-Head's identity."

This peaked Flint's interest, finally turning his head to look at his cellmate. "You don't say…?"

If he had the Spider's identity, maybe he could trade his life for it when the Big Man came for him…!

"Yeah… Toomes says he doesn't know it. Swears up and down. But, you never know…"

Flint scowled, and turned back on his side. A hunch was no information, at all…

"I'm serious, you can tell that he-"

 ** _BOOM!_**

Both men cried out as an explosion blasted the wall out, both cowering and covering their heads.

" _Hello, Marko…_ " A menacing voice came from beyond the flames of the gaping hole.

Flint uncovered his head, staring in horror at the masked man before him.

His time was up…

 _The Big Man_ … He was here.

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A/N: I would really appreciate it if you all left me a review! It really encourages me to continue on with this story. Thanks to those of you who already leave me your lovely comments! :)


	6. Chapter 6

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Chapter Six

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 _"...Police Chief, Captain Stacy, says that there is still an ongoing search for the criminals who were taken from their cells three weeks ago." The Asian news reporter informed on her T.V. She stood in front of a large, gaping hole on the side of the prison wall. It was taped off with signs of caution and construction signs. "Captain Stacy urges civilians to remain cautious until they are apprehended. Back to you, Mark."_

Mary Jane took a drink of her evening coffee, not really paying attention to the news on the television screen. It was really her dad who was watching it, anyways.  
 _"Thanks, Debra,"_ The news anchor said to the camera, with too white of a smile compared to his rather orange complexion. _"In other news; Citizens of New York wonder about Spider-Man's sudden disappearance-"_

Mary Jane, who had just taken another drink of her coffee, sputtered, nearly choking from her sudden coughing fit. Her dad let out a grunt of annoyance at her disruption, but Mary Jane paid him no mind… her attention now rapt on the screen before her.

 _"It has been two weeks since the last known sighting of New York's personal Wall-Crawler, when he had been spotted chasing a van in a high-speed chase through Manhattan..."_

Her attention was completely fixated on the screen, drinking in every word. Every time Mary Jane left the house now, to walk the streets of Manhattan, she found herself looking up more-so than she has ever done before, hoping to catch the sight of red and blue among the towering skyscrapers.

So far, she has been left disappointed.

 _"Here to comment more on the issue is Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson."_

The camera panned to the left, to reveal an upper-middle aged man with a mix of brown and grey hair... which seemed to look oddly flat on the top.

 _"Mr. Jameson,"_ The anchorman, Mark, began. _"What do you have to say about Spider-Man's disappearance? Do you think that it's temporary or is he gone for good?"_

But Mr. Jameson hardly looked concerned. In fact, he looked smug.

 _"I say good riddance to that menace!"_ He said with a hard, rasping, bark of a voice.

Mary Jane's jaw dropped.

 _"That no-good Wall-Crawler has been a nothing but a nuisance to the city of New York since he first showed up!"_ Mr. Jameson continued, getting a little red in the face as he worked himself up in his rant. _"I have it on good authority that Spider-Man, single-handedly, crashed a plane onto the beaches of Coney Island! That is blatant disrespect for public property, which he should be fined and jailed for!"_

Mary Jane gaped at the screen, unable to understand how this man was even able to say such horrible things about Spider-Man!

The headline at the bottom of the screen changed to, **'Spider-Man: Menace?'**

 _"And don't even get me started on the ATM store that he destroyed while robbing it months back! What was done about-"_

 _Click._

The screen turned black.

Mary Jane looked down at her hand, not even having realized that she had reached for the remote to shut off the television until it was already done.

"What the _hell?!"_ Her dad exclaimed, immediately outraged. "I was watching that!"

"Well, I couldn't stand to watch another second of it." Mary Jane said, as she stood from the couch, remote still clasped tightly in her hand.

"Then leave the _fucking_ room!" Her dad argued back as he stood harshly up from the couch, as well. His leg knocked into the coffee table, where her mug toppled over and crashed over the floor. He didn't take notice, as he took thundering steps towards her.

Mary Jane shook her head as she stepped backward, matching his every pace. "How can you stand to poison your mind with that garbage? I mean, to poison it more than it already is..."

"You _ungrateful bitch!_ Give me the _fucking_ remote!"

He made to grab for it, but Mary Jane threw the remote across the room, out of his reach. They both followed the movement of the remote in the air with their eyes as it landed into the sink, still full of dishwater.

A tense second passed before...

 _Slap!_

The pain didn't come straight away. The shock that she felt more than masked it, at first. But it still did come...

The sting of the slap her father had inflicted across her face.

Mary Jane could only stare at the floor, stunned, as she lifted a shaky hand up to her cheek. The very cheek that was flooding with the warmth of her blood to counteract with the pain...

Her eyes finally shifted up to her father, and saw that his eyes were wide as he stood there, frozen. Just looking at her.

He had never hit her before...

In that moment, she had never felt so unsafe and exposed before.

And she wished that Spider-Man was there... to wrap himself around her, holding her in his protective arms as he shielded her from the outside world.

…

Peter sighed as he stared out the window at the busy, dark streets of Queens. He seemed to be doing this quite a bit lately ever since the accident. Slowly but surely, his memory has steadily regained until only minor details of his life were the only things left as blurs.

Though he still didn't remember why he'd even been near that exploding building that night…

Since then, it's been three weeks.

Three weeks of confusion, which was lessening every day.

Three weeks of boredom, which was increasing every day.

And three weeks since he had last seen the _gorgeous_ Mary Jane...

Peter sighed again as he thought of her, resting his chin onto his folded arms on the window-sill. Mary Jane has crossed his thoughts more than once since he had first woken up in his bedroom the day after initially meeting her.

Alright, so she has crossed his mind a lot since meeting her.

With his regaining memory, Peter has since come to realize how big of a deal it was that Mary Jane had protected his secret identity the way that she did.

He has been more than tempted to put on his Spider-Man suit and go out to try and find her again. He kept telling himself that it was just so that he could thank her for all that she did, but Peter knew the actual truth…

He just wanted to see her again. Spend time with her. Laugh with her…

Get to know her.

He didn't know much about her, but what he did know, he liked. A lot.

He knew that she was selfless and caring from the way that she protected his identity as well as took care of him in his time of need. She was also confident from her overall demeanor, ambitious from talking about her dream of being an actress and a model.

But there was also a level of depth in her eyes as she told him about how her parents fought a lot.

It was clear to him, even with his jumbled mind that there were a lot of layers to Mary Jane. Layers that were yet to be discovered but Peter so desperately wanted to.

But he couldn't just go and see her… For one, his aunt had banned him from being Spider-Man for the foreseeable future. Second, he didn't even have his suit, because Tony had it to fix it up for him when he had the time - which hadn't been easy for him to come by since Tony was currently in D.C. with General Ross - And the final reason was that it just wasn't a good idea to get Mary Jane tangled up in the web that was Spider-Man's life…

It took a while for Peter to come to this conclusion, and when he did, he knew that it was the responsible thing to do. It would be different if Mary Jane knew him as Peter Parker, but for her to spend time with him as Spider-Man?

It was out of the question…

Or is it?

Peter stood harshly from his seat by the window as he tried to shake away the involuntary thought from his head.

He started to pace subconsciously back and forth through the tiny bedroom as he racked a hand through his wavy, brown hair.

Of course, this was all under the assumption that Mary Jane even _wanted_ to see him again…

He ran his hands down his face and groaned.

Maybe he should just forget it all and-

Peter stopped and froze as the now-familiar tingling of his spider-sense overcame him.

He turned on a dime to face the window just as the police sirens broke through the normal bustling sounds of the night.

Immediately, almost as though on autopilot, Peter went to turn for his Spider-Man suit… Only to suddenly remember that he didn't have it.

Sullen, Peter's shoulders sank, resigning himself to stay in instead of investigate the source of those sirens.

That is, until the fearful screams coming from a horde of people off in the distance met his ears.

Peter's head snapped up at the alarming noise, before his eyes caught on something red and blue out of the corner of his eye…

He focused his attention of the colorful fabric of his first Spider-Man suit… the one he had before Tony gave him the upgrade. The suit that he had beat the Vulture in.

Peter walked towards the suit, picking it up and examining it with a pondering eye.

When suddenly, he remembered the last words his Uncle Ben told him…

 _"Peter… With great power, must also come great responsibility."_

It wasn't a matter of choice that he go out and stop whatever was hurting those people out there. It was a matter of responsibility.

"My responsibility," Peter whispered. Before he whipped off his shirt and jeans, once again becoming who he is was meant to be.

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A/N: I'm sorry this is short. I'm still trying to get my mojo back. I just wanted to let the small following on this story know that I haven't abandoned writing this, at all. :)

Please leave a review!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update this story! I was waiting to see how "Avengers: Endgame" was going to end before I decided which direction this story was going to go. Since then, I've been planning.

This story will obviously contradict "Spider-Man: Far From Home", which I am perfectly alright with creating an AU story of the MCU Spider-Man. I hope that all of you enjoy!

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Chapter Seven

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The clouds were gloomy up in the evening sky, casting a drab shadow on the city below where Mary Jane Watson, once again, found herself on that same path to her Aunt Anna's apartment. Her stride was as fast as her thoughts - going a mile a minute.

He hit her. Her father actually _hit_ her!

Mary Jane wiped hastily at her wet eyes, furious that she had resorted to tears.

No… she was furious at her _father_ for causing all of this by hitting her.

As soon as she had gotten over the shock of the action her father had inflicted, Mary Jane had immediately left. Her dad screamed at her, tried to get her to stop, but Mary Jane wouldn't allow herself to be deterred. In the end, he let her go. Probably realizing that she was better off without a _deadbeat father_ like him.

So, that was how she found herself on the streetcar, riding to Queens from Brooklyn before she got off and was walking the streets the rest of the way. She needed her Aunt Anna… the closest thing that she had to an actual mother while her real mother was not mother at all. Because at that moment, she needed to be comforted. To feel safe and protected.

The sky above rumbled with rolling thunder and yet, despite that, the streets were crowded for the early evening. But Mary Jane hardly noticed as she walked dazedly forward, completely lost in her thoughts.

That is, until the people surrounding her started to scream.

Mary Jane looked up, startled, to see a crowd of people running away from the intersection just a dozen or so feet ahead of her.

She stood frozen in her confusion as people bypassed her. Until one portly man clipped her by the shoulder as he ran past, knocking her over by the impact. She fell onto her back with a loud thud that caused a resounding ring to echo in her ears. The man did not stop to help her up, nor did he even ask if she was alright.

He continued to run.

Mary Jane sat up so her elbows were supporting her upper body, noting that she now had a few scrapes on her skin from where she landed on the hard pavement, when a strange sound met her ears…

It almost sounded like the rustling of leaves in the wind. But that wasn't quite right. She couldn't quite put a finger on why it sounded so familiar to her… until she saw it.

In the middle of the intersection ahead of her, a large mound of sand sat. O-Only it was _growing!_ More sand was being drawn into the pile as though it was drawn to it. It reminded her of some sort of magnetic force.

The pile of sand kept getting larger and larger before it actually started to take form… into that of a man.

Mary Jane gaped as the sand hardened and became more defined until she was staring directly at the face of one of the escaped convicts she had seen on T.V. not even an hour before.

 _Flint Marko._

He was looking directly at her, from his small distance away from her, smirking slightly at her obvious shock and fear

"Just what I needed…" Marko mused, his grin growing wider as he stared her down. It was at that moment where she just noticed a large bag filled to the brim with cash clutched tight in his hand. A large hole opened up in Marko's chest, where he deposited the bag of money before sand filled the hole up again. " _A hostage."_

Mary Jane's eyes widened as she scrambled to get up to her feet. Flint Marko started stalking towards her, malicious intent in his eyes. His hands started to grow larger as more sand was added to them, becoming twice the size of her body.

Mary Jane finally scrambled to her feet but there was no plausible way she could get away in time. He was too close and from what little she had seen from his powers, he would catch her the moment she turned to run.

 _Still,_ she had to try!

Mary Jane turned just as one of the large hands latched onto one of her legs.

Mary Jane cried out as the action caused her body to fall forward. Her hands just barely managed to catch her fall.

"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOIN', PRINCESS?!" Marko called out to her with such vindictive glee in his voice. He was enjoying this. The sick bastard was actually _enjoying_ this!

Mary Jane was just about to open her mouth to scream, when…

" _Funny,"_ A taunting voice called out from above them. "I was about to ask _you_ the same question, _Sour Puss!"_

Mary Jane looked up just in time to see him mid-swing. She watched in amazement as he swung straight for Flint Marko before the heels of his feet landed a kick that collided perfectly with Marko's face.

Marko's face exploded into a dust storm of sand. In the midst of the confusion, Marko released his hold on Mary Jane's leg. She fell completely to the ground with the lost support that was holding her up.

" _SPIDER-MAN?!"_ She heard Marko shout, rage pouring out of his voice. Mary Jane turned onto her back in order to see what was going on. Her heart was thudding so soundly in her chest that it felt as though she just might pass out.

Was it really Spider-Man? Her eyes followed Marko's indignant hate-filled gaze to spot the figure that was perched on the wall of the closest building.

It _was_ Spider-Man! She couldn't believe that it was _him!_ That she was in close proximity with him again! That he _didn't_ disappear like the paranoid voice in the back of her mind pestered her to believe.

Only… he wasn't wearing his normal suit. This suit he wore now looked haphazardly sewn together from a makeshift red hoodie. It was then that she remembered the electric shock his normal suit had emitted the night she had found him unconscious in that alleyway.

This suit must be his backup while his normal one was getting repaired! At the thought, despite the current situation she found herself in, she pictured a faceless Spider-Man sewing together straps of different fabric together to make this suit, and she had to laugh a little bit. Because she had to admit, the thought behind it was just so… _cute._

" _YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!"_ Flint Marko screamed as he pointed an accusing finger at Spider-Man.

Spider-Man quirked his head to the side, his bulky goggles narrowed slightly in confusion. " _Dead?!_ Me?"

Spider-Man's hands left the building to travel all across his own chest, mockingly checking to see if he was really there.

" _YEAH!"_ Flint cried out in rage. " _HAMMERHEAD SAID YOU GOT BLOWN UP BY THE BIG MAN'S TRAP!"_

Spider-Man froze. Mary Jane felt all the air in her lungs leave her. The explosion… it hadn't been an accident. It had been deliberate. Someone, this ' _Big Man'_ , was trying to _kill_ Spider-Man!

Spider-Man got over his shock a lot faster than she did with her own, as he shook off the revelation as though it was nothing. "Hmm… See, about that, I have this theory that spiders can survive a nuclear explosion."

" _YOU RUINED MY LIFE!"_ Marko screamed, his fist transforming into a large hammer.

"Or maybe that's just my spider bias talking…" Spider-Man continued as though he didn't hear Marko.

Marko's hammer hand suddenly lurched forward, the sand extending his arm enough for it to reach where Spider-Man was currently perched on the wall.

Mary Jane cried out in horror at the scene before her, knowing that she was about to witness Spider-Man get hit by solid sand that was going the speed of a freight train. But just when the hammer had been about to hit him, Spider-Man flipped off of the wall, narrowly missing what would have been a fatal blow.

" _Dude!"_ Spider-Man exclaimed, his voice stressed as he shot a web at the hammer mid-flip over Marko's head. "I don't even know _who you are!_ How could I have possibly ruined your life?"

When Spider-Man landed nimbly on his feet, he immediately pulled at the line of his webbing, pulling Marko back so that he landed with an audible thud on the pavement.

As soon as he was on the ground, Spider-Man shot more webbing at Marko, trying to glue him to the pavement with the sticky substance.

" _YOU DID THIS TO ME! YOU SIGNED MY DEATH SENTENCE WHEN YOU LET ME GO TO JAIL!"_ Flint Marko's body turned to tiny particles of sand, easily escaping through the gaps in the webbing. As soon as he was free, his body started to put itself back together again. The bag of money he had put in his chest stayed behind in its web prison. " _AND NOW YOU'RE GOIN' TO PAY!"_

Marko's skin trembled before his arms started to transform in rippling waves, turning both of his hands into two giant clubs. With a giant cry of rage, his arms extended forward with bursts of sand.

 _SLAM!_

The two ends of the sledge-hammer hands collided together just as Spider-Man dodged out of the way in an impressive flip.

Thunder resounded from the clouds again, this time closer.

"ARGHHHH!" Marko cried out in frustration as he continued swinging the clubs at his enemy, with Spider-Man dodging every swing. "WHY WON'T YOU JUST _STAY STILL?!"_

Spider-Man flipped up in the air as he dodged another blow before he kicked Marko right in the face. Scattered sand went everywhere in a cloud of dust. Spider-Man landed nimbly on his feet.

"I'm _shocked!_ I'm _hurt!_ " Spider-Man quipped in mock outrage. "I thought that you _liked it_ when we danced together?!"

Marko's face morphed back to it's original form before he turned to Spider-Man with the most hateful scowl. "WOULD YOU JUST _SHUT UP?!"_

Spider-Man put a hand to his chest in mock horror. "Now you are just being plain rude! Didn't your mom ever teach you manners?"

With a thunderous cry, Marko charged for Spider-Man.

Spider-Man flipped out of the way once again. "Well, since no one has taught you manners, I'll have to be the one to help you out."

With that quip, Spider-Man shot a glob of webbing at Marko's face, covering the man's mouth in the sticky substance before he shot more webbing at his sandy limbs, trying to coat his entire body.

Scattered droplets of rain started to fall.

Once Marko was completely covered, Spider-Man stepped back and surveyed his handiwork by framing Marko's form with his hands. "Now, I'm no photographer but even I can tell an amazing work of art when I see one! The _lighting!_ The _angles!_ You _almost_ resemble a newly _reformed_ criminal…?" Spider-Man trailed off with a hopeful lilt in his tone.

Marko's entire form trembled before he burst out in a storm of sand, exploding out of his web prision. His voice screamed out in rage that resounded in an echo all around.

Spider-Man's goggled eyes widened in alarm as he staggered back. "Whoops! Spoke too soon!"

He shot out a webline at the nearest building and swung out of the way just as the cloud of sand dumped on the spot he had been previously standing.

But his swing wasn't fast enough...

In a terrifying storm of sand, it redirected mid-air and slammed into Spider-Man, bringing him crashing down to the pavement.

"SPIDER-MAN!" Mary Jane cried out in horror.

The pounding sand kept coming down on Spider-Man, holding him down against the asphalt by the continuous assault from the sand storm when a hand formed out of the sand, wrapping around Spider-Man's neck. Marko's bodily form morphed from the rest of the sand as he grinned down vindictively at the hero pinned down by the throat underneath him.

"Now you're gonna pay…" His arm transformed into a sharp, sandy axe.

"NO!" Mary Jane screamed as she broke out into a run towards them, needing to stop the horrific act before it could happen.

Marko didn't pay her any mind as he brought his arm back in what was bound to be a powerful blow.

Mary Jane didn't even think. She just acted on pure instinct alone. And before she even knew it, her purse was hurtling through the air towards Marko's head at the exact moment Spider-Man shot out a web.

The purse hit Marko in the face just as Spider-Man's web stuck itself to Marko's axe hand. With Marko thoroughly distracted, Spider-Man pulled the line of webbing to the side, sticking the other end to the pavement, leaving enough space for Spider-Man to escape through.

As soon as he was free, Spider-Man rolled off to the side where he started coughing up a storm, trying to get a breath of fresh air. No doubt he had sand particles stuck in his throat from when the sand storm had been beating down on him.

Mary Jane looked on at him in complete worry and fear, hoping beyond hope that he was alright. When a movement caught her eye.

Marko turned his enraged gaze onto her, his eyes ablaze with absolute fury. Mary Jane staggered back at the look of murderous rage. He pulled the axe free from its web confinement with a firm yank.

"You little _bitch!"_ Marko hissed before he got up onto firm feet and started stalking towards her. His face displayed such murderous intent that it caused Mary Jane's limbs to freeze on her. Her mind was screaming at her to run, but her body wasn't able to comply.

His hands transformed into giant sledge hammers and Mary Jane knew, with just one swing of those powerful arms, she would be done for.

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A/N: I know… I know… I'm the worst. But I'm already working on the next chapter, so I should be posting it soon!

In the meantime, let me know what you think so far!


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